Plane Makes Emergency Landing In El Paso Due To Severe Weather

An American Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing after being hit by severe weather in Northeast El Paso. Check out the shocking photos here. An Americans Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing in El Paso after being struck by severe weather Sunday night. American Airlines flight 1897 was flying from San Antonio to Phoenix and was two hours into the flight when the plane was struck by severe turbulence and weather.

According to KENS 5, one passenger, Jesus Esparza, said that passengers saw lightening and then the plane was pelted with hail. The plane suffered severe turbulence and at one point dropped like a rollercoaster, causing passengers to start vomiting and things to fly around the plane. Esparaza said he gave his air sickness bag to the person behind him because they had already used theirs. The pilot of the plane reported "virtually no visibility" from the front window and was forced to make a blind landing. The pilot said he was able to see out the side window and used it to help him land. Thankfully, the pilot was able to land the plane safely and there were no reports of injuries. There were 130 passengers onboard, as well as 5 crew members.

"American Airlines flight 1897, from San Antonio to Phoenix, diverted to El Paso due to damage sustained by weather in flight. The aircraft, an Airbus A319 with 130 passengers and a crew of five, landed safely at 8:03 p.m. MT. The aircraft is currently being evaluated by our maintenance team. We never want to disrupt our customers’ travel plans, and we are sorry for the trouble this caused.”